The Biden administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject appeals from major oil companies and Republican state attorneys general who are attempting to halt climate change lawsuits filed by state and local governments. In legal briefs filed on Tuesday, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that the high court should not entertain these efforts, as they would undermine local governments’ ability to hold fossil fuel producers accountable for allegedly misleading the public about the dangers of climate change.
At the center of the dispute is a 2020 lawsuit filed by Honolulu against major oil and gas companies—including Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, and Sunoco—accusing them of deliberately downplaying the environmental and health risks associated with fossil fuel consumption. The city of Honolulu claims that these companies misled the public for decades about the harmful effects of climate change caused by burning fossil fuels.
In a separate case, 19 Republican-led states are attempting to prevent five Democratic-led states—California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island—from pursuing similar claims against Exxon, Shell, BP, and others.
Prelogar argued that the Supreme Court should allow these cases to proceed in lower courts and avoid ruling on broader constitutional issues at this stage. She noted that the oil companies are still raising other constitutional arguments that could potentially resolve the cases without the need for a Supreme Court intervention.
The legal skirmish has far-reaching implications. The oil companies, including Chevron, argue that allowing these lawsuits to move forward could undermine U.S. energy security. In contrast, the Biden administration contends that the lawsuits are a legitimate exercise of state and local governments’ rights to seek justice for their citizens who have been impacted by climate-related damages.
In the case involving the Republican-led states, Prelogar emphasized that these states have no standing to block lawsuits filed by Democratic-led states, as they are only speculating about the potential outcomes of future state court rulings. The Republican states argue that such lawsuits could amount to an improper attempt to regulate emissions at the federal level, something that is outside the purview of state courts.
With the future of climate accountability on the line, the Biden administration is encouraging the Supreme Court to let the legal process unfold at the lower court levels. The decision to hear or reject these cases could set a crucial precedent for how the U.S. legal system treats climate change litigation moving forward.
As the Supreme Court considers these appeals, the debate continues over the balance of power between state and federal jurisdictions and the responsibility of major corporations in the fight against climate change.
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